Tuesday, November 20, 2012

When it comes time to make major decisions (of any kind) for a major university, the last thing we might do is suggest that past or current athletes be consulted.

That said, we would quickly defer to former Maryland Terrapin Tom McMillen. Evidently, McMillen, a former all-American from Lefty Driesell’s early 1970s teams, who became a Rhodes Scholar and a three-time Democratic congressman, was the lone dissenting vote to join the Big 10.

According to the Washington Post, McMillen didn’t oppose the move as much as the process, which he called “terrible.”

“When there is no time for deliberation, when commissioners flush with dollars from their conference are dictating to college presidents — when student-athletes and coaches aren’t even brought into the conversation and traditions are thrown away like dirty laundry — there is a recipe for something all right. In my view, how this was handled will have long-term detrimental effects on college sports."

“I’m not saying we shouldn’t do this. I’m saying they wanted us two years ago. They will want us in two more years. To totally disregard the athletes and have this crammed down everyone’s throat over a weekend is just awful.”

“This is the kind of thing that can be the tipping point for uncompensated athletes in money-making sports, who are left without any say and are basically becoming indentured servants to big schools.”

“We had two days to swallow this and we only heard from one side,” McMillen said. “We didn’t have anyone from the ACC come in and tell us why we shouldn’t leave. We didn’t talk to the athletes or the coaches and hear their concerns on both ends."

“If you’re a freshman athlete, you should be allowed to move schools based on the fact that no one said you were going to be catching plane rides to Lincoln, Nebraska, and Iowa City, Iowa, when they recruited you. I feel for them. We’re doing this in a vacuum."

“Frankly, Gary Williams and some other employees of the athletic department got out there and sold this before anyone could even form another opinion. Nobody was on the opposition side.”

WHERE IN THE WORLD...?

The way it is...

The way it was...

TAH DAMN GOOD CAUSE OF THE MONTH

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